Report: Pesach Eve Induction for Haredi Students Postponed

Induction orders sent to thousands of hared youths will apparently be postponed, a report Monday said.

By Moshe Cohen

First Publish: 3/31/2014, 4:50 PM

Hareidi protest against IDF enlistment

Flash 90

Several months ago, thousands of hareidi youths were sent orders to appear at IDF induction centers – on the 13th day of the Hebrew month of Nissan, just one day before the start of Passover. But the army has backtracked, according to hareidi newspaper Hamevaser – and the induction orders have been postponed indefinitely.

With the passage of the new Conscription Law, which regulates the drafting of hareidi youth into the army, the IDF will set a schedule for sending out draft notices. The draft notices in question were sent out before passage of the law, but after the High Court struck down the former legislation that provided exemptions for most hareidi yeshiva students. As the exemptions had been declared illegal, the army sent out draft notices to all hareidi youths who had turned 18 in the months before the induction date.

The new law gives the Defense Minister the option of delaying the induction date of haredi youths, and it is on that basis that Moshe Ya'alon has decided to postpone the enactment of the orders. The decision was reportedly made after a cabinet discussion earlier Monday. The students whose induction orders were postponed were to have appeared at induction centers for a health checkup and an intake interview, and sent home.

Meanwhile, the heads of Hassidic communities are still deciding what to do about draft orders in general.

Until now, most yeshiva students, from the Hassidic and Lithuanian (non Hassidic hareidi) communities had appeared at induction centers for intake interviews, and despite ongoing protests against the Conscription Law, the heads of Lithuanian yeshivas will continue to allow students to do so, Arutz Sheva has learned. The heads of the Hassidic yeshivas have not yet decided on the issue, sources said.